Crime lab expert supports theory of Steinle killing being accident; or not

FILE - In this July 7, 2015 file photo, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, right, is led into the courtroom by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, left, for his arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco. The bullet that killed Kate Steinle two years ago ricocheted off the ground about 100 yards away before hitting her in the back and later launching a criminal case at the center of a national immigration debate. A San Francisco police officer who helped supervise the investigation testified about the bullet’s trajectory Monday, Oct. 30, 2017 at Zarate's trial. (Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, Pool, File) less

FILE - In this July 7, 2015 file photo, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, right, is led into the courtroom by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, left, for his arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco. ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, Associated Press

Photo: Michael Macor, Associated Press

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FILE - In this July 7, 2015 file photo, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, right, is led into the courtroom by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, left, for his arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco. The bullet that killed Kate Steinle two years ago ricocheted off the ground about 100 yards away before hitting her in the back and later launching a criminal case at the center of a national immigration debate. A San Francisco police officer who helped supervise the investigation testified about the bullet’s trajectory Monday, Oct. 30, 2017 at Zarate's trial. (Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, Pool, File) less

FILE - In this July 7, 2015 file photo, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, right, is led into the courtroom by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, left, for his arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco. ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, Associated Press

Crime lab expert supports theory of Steinle killing being accident; or not

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The homeless man accused of fatally shooting Kate Steinle on San Francisco’s Pier 14 had just one gunshot residue particle on his hands when he was arrested an hour after the incident — which could possibly mean the gun he handled went off accidentally when he picked it up in a cloth, a forensic consultant testified in court Monday.

However, James Norris, a former head of the San Francisco police crime lab, emphasized that accidental firing was just one of many possibilities, given the evidence gathered in the case.

Norris kicked off the defense for 45-year-old Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, with attorney Matt Gonzalez calling him to the stand as his first witness in an effort to discredit the prosecution’s assertions that Garcia Zarate aimed a gun at Steinle and pulled the trigger on July 1, 2015. Prosecutors are trying to prove the shooting was an intentional act showing the malice needed for a second-degree murder conviction.

Steinle was strolling with her arm around her father when she was struck in the back by a single bullet that had skipped off the concrete ground after being fired from a pistol. Gonzalez said Garcia Zarate — an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, with a history of drug crimes and deportations whose release from San Francisco jail before the killing sparked controversy — had accidentally discharged the gun after finding it bundled in a T-shirt or cloth under a seat at the pier.

Norris testified Monday that most laboratories would not consider the one gunshot residue particle that was found on Garcia Zarate to be a positive finding, as particles can be transferred to the individual from police officers and police vehicles during transport.

And although Norris told the courtroom it was possible the lack of gunshot residue particles could support the defense’s claim that it was wrapped in a cloth when it discharged — a key component of the accident argument — he acknowledged that anything could be considered possible with the evidence gathered.

“He can’t say it is or it isn’t because he’s a legitimate expert,” Gonzalez said outside court. “But I think, for the first time, there’s a realization for the jury that you have to be a little bit more careful with the evidence. For me, the consistency of it being an accident is sufficient.”

Norris also testified that by looking at the damage on the recovered bullet and the divot it made when it struck the pier, it was impossible to determine if someone had purposefully aimed the gun at Steinle and squeezed the trigger.

Based on the evidence, the gun was pointed at the ground and fired at about knee-height, 11/2 feet to 2 feet from the ground, Norris said.

“If your desire is to injure someone, this is not a high-probability way to do it,” he said.

The bullet uncovered a set of tiny stones on one side of its path when it struck the concrete, which is a mix of smooth cement, sand and rock. Norris said that stones could have “provided a little wall” that curved the bullet to the right and toward the direction of Steinle, an assessment that clashes with the prosecution’s theory that the bullet traveled in a straight line from Garcia Zarate to the ricochet spot to Steinle — a distance of about 90 feet.

Assistant District Attorney Diana Garcia attempted to attack Norris’ credibility in her cross-examination, asking if he had conducted any of the investigation or written any reports of his findings. She jumped on his testimony about the trigger pull of the gun, a .40-caliber Sig Sauer handgun that had been stolen four days earlier from the nearby parked car of an off-duty federal ranger. No one was arrested in the burglary.

The defense has argued that the fully loaded pistol had a light trigger pull in single-action mode — when the hammer is already cocked — and it was possible that Garcia Zarate inadvertently set off the trigger when he fumbled with the cloth bundle he said he found on the pier.

“Do you agree that the only way this gun can be fired is to pull the trigger?” she asked.

“Something pulled the trigger, yes,” Norris said.

“You don’t have any objective evidence in this case that this gun was fired for any reason than a finger pulling the trigger, correct?”

Norris said he could not answer if the gun discharged because a finger tugged on the trigger or if something else had pressed on it and set the gun off.

Later, he said, “It doesn’t have to be a finger that pulls the trigger.”